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Blackout forces plane back
By
Gedion Munthali - 25-06-2002 |
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An Air Malawi ATR 42 aircraft was forced to return to Lilongwe on Sunday after failing to land at Chileka Airport in Blantyre because lights at the airport went out and a stand-by generator could not start automatically to provide electricity.
Air Malawi Marketing Manager Nesta Msowoya confirmed the incident yesterday, saying the aircraft, which had 30 people on board, went back to Lilongwe International Airport because it could not land in darkness at Chileka.
Msowoya said the airport was plunged into darkness barely a minute after the airline’s Boeing aircraft with 90 people on board had just landed from Johannesburg in South Africa.
“There was total black out and the Boeing aircraft had to taxi in the dark. I do not know what would have happened if the lights had gone out when this flight was still airborne.
“There was chaos at the airport because people had to fulfil immigration and customs formalities in the dark and you can imagine the state of affairs,” said Msowoya, adding that the incident affected passengers travelling from South Africa, who were to make connections to Lilongwe.
“We cannot understand how the stand-by generator did not pick up. This is denting the image of the airline. It is unfortunate that when the airline is picking up in terms of service provision, such an incident happens and when most people cannot tell the difference between Air Malawi and the Department of Civil Aviation,” lamented Msowoya.
Airport Commandant Penjani Msiska also confirmed the incident saying: “When Escom power went out, our generator did not pick up automatically. It needed someone to turn it on manually. So the aircraft was just returned temporarily to Lilongwe.”
He dismissed claims that the generator was faulty and that the airport had run out of diesel fuel.
“The plane came back and landed, of course after a delay,” said Msiska. |
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